The Full Montenegro

The ride to Kotor, Montenegro made all the heartache of catching the damn bus worth it. In the distance you can see St. George island and Our Lady of the Rocks (Gospa od Škrpjela), the one with the blue roof.

     

The bus dropped us at the station and we guessed a direction to walk in, lucking out in that we soon stumbled into the massive wall that still protects Old City Kotor. Our hostel, Montenegro Hostel, was located within its labyrinthine streets, although we received a nasty surprise once we tried to check in- they had overbooked and passed off our reservation to a nearby hostel. Okay? We sat and waited for about 30 minutes until finally a woman and what looked to be her much younger boyfriend showed up and led us down a few streets to where our much less place was located. Literally the only signage indicating its existence was this:

Not going to lie, this was disappointing. Montenegro Hostel was highly recommended on a couple different hostel/travel websites so it was a bummer to somehow end up in a pretty run down, unmarked, fan-less dorm room with about 12 rowdy frat-boys from the Netherlands. No common room, no kitchen, not much hospitality, since the front door was locked the next day and they were less than pleased when we woke them up to pay and ask them to unleash us from this dungeon.

Jo's feelings about our hostel room/trying to sit up on the top bunk.

We did have a nice view of the main square, and one of Kotor's most famous monuments (besides its impressive ancient city stairs and scenery)- the Cathedral of Saint Trifun. After dropping our stuff we headed over to see said cathedral and eat some more of that delicious South-Eastern European pizza, so good. Plus some well-deserved beer.

It was while enjoying this feast that we decided to scale the fortifications of Kotor to St. John castle. We dallied a while around the town, then decided to wait until things had cooled off slightly, since at this point we had gotten far enough south and late enough in August that the heat was no joke. So some time around dusk we made our way towards the back of town, and with a few helpful pointers from souvenir shop owning-locals, located the stairs leading upwards. But not before we stopped for an espresso, as we did for every hill we climbed, an agreement we'd made somewhere in Croatia.

Pretty cool cafe that manages to have not only an Emily and a Joanna but also a Tom Waits table.

Very steep, crumbling stone, no railings, no real safety precautions. This was mostly At Your Own Risk fun.

(This one is from on the way down, we stopped again at the church to gather our wits as the climb down in the dark was almost as harrowing as the climb up on those ridiculous stairs.)

Approaching and leaving Our Lady of Remedy, a tiny church on the stairs leading upwards. Notice how many of these shots are slightly askew: this is because I was already so winded, sweaty, and tired that I could barely hear myself think let alone get my hands to stop shaking long enough to take a decent picture. And we'd only just started.

Losing the sun, gaining a party pirate ship?

In the approaching dusk, a wild Jo waits patiently several meters ahead of me.

  

Finally at the top, Kotor was a tiny recreation of civilization to us, like you see in those Christmas train-set villages.

The cafe we'd been at before served dark beer so once we finished scurrying back down the mountain it was not even a question of what would happen next. God bless you, Evergreen Bar/Cafe.

The next day we woke up early again, to explore a bit more of Kotor before our Montenegro Hostel-organized shuttle left for Tirana, Abania. This is the main entrance in the old city walls.

Walls.

Walls.

Benches.

The black mountain at dawn.

More churches.

A lovely climbing plant spilling over a balcony and into the alley.

I was sad to find this closed.

Giant rusting anchor? Perfect lawn decor.

Alley cat.

It was a pretty good afternoon/morning, despite our stupid dorm co-habitants staying in when we had really, really hoped they would go out and party. We managed to pass out regardless and had a nice wander before our shuttle driver, Bato, arrived to whisk us across the Albanian border (there are no direct buses from Kotor to Tirana, and the insanely roundabout route/extra time due to being at the mercy of Montenegrin/Albanian public transportation made the shuttle worth the extra money). My one real regret upon leaving Kotor was not being able to mail the postcards I'd bought, as we arrived too late in the day for the post office to still be open and left before it did so the next day. But that was soon to be remedied...

One more PERFECT homemade panorama brought to you courtesy of Windows Paint.